I come from a little town called Kendal, which nestles among the hills to the south of England's Lake District. I haven't lived there for 37 years, but I still think of Kendal as home. Kendal has been called "The Auld Grey Town" since time out of mind!

Visitors to the Auld Grey Town

Monday, September 1, 2008

Back at the Chalkface

This is the school that I work at, in Droylsden to the East of Manchester. There has to be a word for someone like me, probably "idiot" as I have taught at Droylsden School for 35 Years now. I started back in 1973 before the Internet or Mobile Phones were invented. Indeed I can remember that when I first started at the school the staff were going Gaga over the acquisition of a Video Recorder that was slightly smaller than a house. How times have changed.

So the teachers started today and the girls return to school tomorrow. And this is the last time that any of us will start a new year at Droylsden School. On the 31st of August next year, this school is being closed by a grateful Local Authority. God Bless You Tameside! On September 1st 2009 a new, and better, (it must be as it has been created by our wonderful Labour Government) school will open for business, initially in the same building. The new school will be one of HMG's new ACADEMIES. A super school for super students. Our girls' school will cease to exist so that another co-educational colossus can be created.

Next year there will only be one single sex school for Girls in Tameside, but hey, that is fair isn't it, after all there will only be TWO single sex schools for Boys! That is only fair isn't it.

I hope you will permit me to be bitter about what I see as the needless destruction of an excellent school and I still have to be convinced about the educational justification for this!